Scarborough Council staff painstakingly scoured the mess for clues to the culprit - before finding the incriminating library book.

An investigation revealed Craven’s young daughter was the last person to borrow it, a find which forced Craven to plead guilty to failing to take steps to get rid of the rubbish legally.

“(She) couldn’t say who it was who took the rubbish other than it was just a scrapman,” said Scarborough Council solicitor Jon Davey.

“She could supply no further details of them other than they had a white pick-up van - the council only have a white pick- up van to go off and that is not enough for the council to start an audit trail.”

In interview, tattooed Craven, of Ash Grove, denied she was to blame and claimed she had even been handed a receipt by the mystery white van.

However, she has been unable produce it.

In court, the 32-year-old still protested her innocence despite her guilty plea.

“Had I a vehicle I could have followed them to the tip,” she said.

“But then if I had a vehicle I could have taken it myself.”

When asked how she learned about the white van man, she told the court the mystery mover was “just driving around” one day.

But Mr Davey added: “Even if what she is saying is true then there were still no reasonable measures taken.”